The present invention relates in general to fasteners, and more particularly to systems, devices and methods for releasably securing removable floor mats to the carpeted floors of vehicles.
It has long been a practice to equip automobiles, sport utility vehicles, vans and even trucks with carpeting in the interior. While this creates an aesthetically pleasing interior and also aids soundproofing, it creates a problem in that occupants entering the vehicle from the outside will place their feet on the carpet, subjecting the carpet to soiling and accelerated wear.
To prevent the permanently installed carpeting from getting soiled and prematurely worn, vehicle manufacturers and manufacturers of after-market automotive products have developed floor mats that typically provide impervious barriers to moisture and dirt. These floor mats can be quickly removed, cleaned, replaced, and therefore the interior of the vehicle is preserved in a like-new condition.
The easy removability of conventional floor mats militates against their staying in one place on the carpet surface. To prevent the slipping and sliding of conventional vehicle floor mats on carpeted floors, various affixation devices have been developed. Representative of these is the affixation device shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,403,895 issued to Caldwell et al. The Caldwell et al. device uses a central screw which is screwed into the carpeting pile, and a head which is meant to be received in a respective hole in a rubber floor mat. This conventional device and ones like it have a drawback of seriously and permanently damaging the carpet to which the affixation device has been joined. Further, since there is in essence only one point of attachment of this affixation device to the carpet, there is a tendency for this device to pull out of the carpeting when, for example, the floor mat to which it is affixed is suddenly jerked out of the vehicle, as might happen when a cleaning attendant wishes to quickly remove the floor mat. When this happens one is left with a gaping hole in the carpeting and a floor mat which is no longer securely affixable to the vehicle floor. A need therefore persists in the industry for a vehicle floor mat affixation device which (1) may be easily installed and removed by the consumer, (2) is not prone to causing damage to the carpeting if it is forcibly removed, and nonetheless (3) provides substantial resistance to slippage of the mat with respect to the floor.
According to one aspect of the invention, a device is provided for fastening an object to a textile layer, such as a layer of pile carpeting installed in a vehicle. This device has a plurality of elongate, resilient hook members that extend axially outwardly from a first face of a body. Each of the hook members is disposed in a helical path around an axis of a body. Free ends of the hook members are adapted to engage the textile layer. A second face opposite the first face has a fastener affixed thereto for fastening to the object. In the illustrated embodiment, this object is a vehicle floor mat, but it is contemplated that this device can be used for affixing various objects to various textile layers.
In a second aspect of the invention, the hook members are formed integrally with a crosspiece that is disposed in a nonlinear but planar path between the hook members. This crosspiece is incorporated into the body. The nonlinear path prevents a rotation motion of the hook members, in relation to the body, which could result in a less secure fastening of the object to the textile layer because of only one hook engaging the carpet. Preferably, reinforcing portions of the body cover the crosspiece to prevent the crosspiece from being pulled out of the body.
In a third aspect of the invention, the device is a portion of a system for releasably attaching the object to a textile layer. A second fastener is affixed to the object which is adapted to be releasably secured to the first fastener. In one preferred embodiment, the second face of the device is covered with a releasably fastening material such as VELCRO(copyright) (a hook and loop material made by DuPont) or even more preferably, DUAL-LOCK(copyright) (a releasably fastening material made by 3M). The second fastener comprises a layer of material which is bonded in some fashion to the object to be secured, such as a floor mat. Once the first and second layers of fastening material are mated together, the object is secured to the textile layer in such a manner that it will resist large shear forces between the object in the textile layer, and will require a moderate amount of force in the direction perpendicular to the textile layer to remove it. The hook members do little or no damage to the textile layer upon their insertion, are not easily inadvertently removed, but may be intentionally removed without leaving significant damage behind.
In an affixation method according to the invention, the helically disposed hook members of the affixation device are screwed into the carpeting pile such that the hook members pierce the underlying warp and woof of the textile layer. The helical path of the hook members is sufficiently spaced from the axis of the body that a significant portion of the textile layer resists the detachment of the body from the textile layer. This may be contrasted to conventional affixation devices of this type, which depend upon a very small central area to resist inadvertent extraction of the device.
In an alternative embodiment, the substantially helical hook members have terminal portions which are deflected axially outwardly with respect to the first face of the body. These deflected terminal portions are used to engage and pierce the textile layer more effectively prior to rotating the body of the device into position on the textile layer.